It would be difficult to find a college student in the United States who is unfamiliar with Bill Nye the Science Guy. Even if members of this generation did not faithfully watch the program as a child, it is likely that elementary school teachers included an episode or two of the show into their science curriculum. At the very least, the name should sound familiar.

For those who need a quick reminder, Bill Nye the Science Guy was a show that introduced children to science through biology, chemistry, physics and ecology. The show, which began in 1993, ran in 30-minute installments and presented the information in a fun, easy-to-understand manner.

Five students at the University of Minnesota — Morris decided to create a Facebook group not only devoted to Bill Nye, but relating him to Chuck Norris, named “Bill Nye is the Chuck Norris of the Science World.”

“Bill Nye was the only TV show that I really watched when I was young, and for a while now I’ve been kind of annoyed by the Chuck Norris meme,” said Ian Nicholson, the lead creator of the group. “I liked the thought of Bill Nye because I feel that he’s sort of the antithesis of Chuck Norris.”

Nicholson — along with friends Jason Biatek, Destinee Oitzinger, Katrina Floyd and Tracy Herman — created the group in the middle of one night last November. Less than four months later, the group has grown to more than 4,500 members and is increasing by about 50 members every day.

“I remember thinking to myself that I had never anticipated that this group would ever grow beyond my own state,” said Nicholson, who was surprised that the group reached 3,000 at all.

There have been a few knock-off groups as well, including one devoted to a professor and a copycat group that stole much of its content from this group’s page. Biatek believes that the latter group was created by middle or high school students who seem to think Bill Nye is deceased. Aside from that group, he thinks the other groups are “awesome, since imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.”

There are numerous sites and references to the “superhuman abilities” of Chuck Norris, and the creators of this group thought that Bill Nye’s remarkable scientific feats deserved the same attention.

“As we all know, Chuck Norris has done some great things, but we felt that Bill Nye should be recognized for his equally great achievements, even though they tend to be science-related,” said Biatek.

On the group page, there are about 400 posts on the wall and discussion board with Bill Nye statements, ranging from, “Bill Nye knows more than Laplace’s Demon,”(a favorite of Herman) to, “Bill Nye tutors Stephen Hawking”(Floyd’s choice).

Oitzinger’s favorite saying is “Bill Nye decides if Schroedinger’s cat is alive or dead.”

“One thing I like about these is that we try to incorporate facts that are relevant to science and ‘geeky-ness’ in general,” said Nicholson. “None of that lame ‘person-x can accomplish random impossible task-y crap’ that plagues Chuck Norris.”

Nicholson concludes with one final reason why Bill Nye is the better man, “Chuck Norris could have roundhouse-kicked the Berlin Wall, but like it says on the site: ‘Bill Nye destroyed it with common household chemicals.’”

Reach reporter Abby Walker at features@thedaily.washington.edu.